


Invincible Sun

by moondustings



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur Pendragon Returns, Established Relationship, Forests, M/M, Magic, Once and Future King, Promises, Reincarnation, Snow, Soulmates, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Winter Solstice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 11:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17527505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moondustings/pseuds/moondustings
Summary: But in that solemn silenceis heard the whisper of every sleeping thing —“Look, look at me;come wake me up,for still here I be.”





	Invincible Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moonflower999](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonflower999/gifts).



> Happy Merlin Holidays, Moonflower999! Your prompts were absolutely lovely and inspired me so much in so many different directions, it was difficult to choose just one path! I wish I could have written you 10 different stories, but I hope you like this little one I came up with, and that it adds a little extra warmth and coziness to your winter season <333
> 
> As always, my deepest thanks and appreciation to the amazing mods of this fest. You guys are superheroes. <33

_But here the forest's clothed with light,_

_and in a shining sheath enrolled —_

_each branch, each twig, each blade of grass_

_seems clad, miraculously, with glass._

 

_But in that solemn silence_

_is heard the whisper of every sleeping thing —_

 

_“Look, look at me;_

_come wake me up,_

_for still here I be.”_

 

_*   *   *_

 

The crackle of frozen twigs and fallen leaves was soft beneath the steps of Merlin’s feet, the sound muffled by the twisted roots of the mighty old growth trees and snow-blanketed boughs and brush of the surrounding forest. The cold pricked his lungs and stung the tips of his ears, each exhalation of breath a shimmering white whisper in the slanted light of the moon.

They’d been walking for some time now, well beyond all hints of any path or trail within the deep and wild wood.

Merlin knew they were getting close. He felt it.

A sudden sharp _SNAP_ and the ensuing cacophony of stumbling footfalls and restrained swearing from beside him jerked his wandering senses back into place, eyes flicking toward the racket just in time to see a streak of blonde hair whoosh forward as Arthur caught himself falling over a downed branch.

 _“Arthur,”_ Merlin whisper-scolded, unable to remove the bemused affection in his own admonishment.

“Oh, I’m _sorry_ , Merlin,” Arthur hissed, gesturing to their entirely still and empty surroundings, “is my midnight near-death experience causing a disturbance?”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “It’s 10:00 pm.”

“ _Oh_ , well in that case...” Arthur grumbled.

“We’re almost there, I promise!”

“It’s _freezing._ ”

“It’s not that cold,” Merlin insisted, shivering.

“Are you ever going to tell me where we’re going?”

“ _Shhh_ ,” Merlin hushed. “I told you, we’re nearly there.”

“Ah yes, thank you, that answers my question.”

Merlin smirked in the darkness, and then stopped in his tracks, pushing an arm out in front of Arthur and nearly tripping him again.

_"There,”_ he announced, quiet excitement suffusing his voice, palm pressing against Arthur’s stomach through his fluffy parka. 

Arthur squinted ahead blankly. 

“Where? What am I looking at?”

Merlin turned to him, eyes alight. 

“We’re here! Come on,” he breathed, slipping his hand down into Arthur’s own and twisting their gloved fingers together as he tugged him forward.

A few paces more, and they stepped out from the dense entanglement of the primeval wood into a small, open clearing.

“Where are we?” Arthur asked again, softer now that their voices carried further.

“Come here,” Merlin answered, pulling him closer to the center of the meadow. Beneath the open night sky, the new fallen snow was thicker here; their boots _swushed_ softly through it as they walked.

“A pile of sticks,” Arthur announced as they stopped in front of a lean-to heap of logs, pinecones, and kindling.

“It’s a _bonfire_ ,” Merlin corrected.

“Are we camping?” Arthur asked with trepidation. 

“We’re celebrating.”

“Celebrating...?”

“The solstice,” Merlin explained, squeezing Arthur’s hand.

“Oh,” Arthur replied, eyes suddenly alight with a mix of dawning understanding and curiosity.

“I told you I would teach you,” Merlin said, a hint of what almost sounded like shyness in his voice.

“I remember,” Arthur assured him. “I suppose I didn’t realize the lesson would be so hands-on.”

Merlin rolled his eyes.

“It’s the only way,” he said, pulling his hand from Arthur’s and opening his palm toward the “pile of sticks”.

“Ready?” he asked.

“To no longer be freezing my arse off? Yes, I think so,” Arthur said.

_“Forbearnan,”_ Merlin breathed, open hand outstretched before them. 

The bonfire roared to life, the wood cracking merrily as the flames wove through them; sparks popped from within glowing embers and fluttered freely up into the night sky. Their eyes followed them.

“Wow,” Arthur said softly, awe permeating his voice as he gazed upward, his hand reaching out to find Merlin’s again.

The sky was clear and cloudless, and so deep were they into the dark of the forest that no manmade light could touch or obscure a single inch of it. Billions of stars hung suspended in the unfathomable, inky black of space, and shone so brightly that Merlin felt as if he stood among them rather than beneath, surrounded by the blink and glow of infinite fireflies.

“You know, I see this every year, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it,” Merlin mused.

Arthur turned his head toward Merlin.

“Every year?”

Merlin glanced toward him, gaze searching Arthur’s reticent expression.

“Every year,” Merlin confirmed. After a silent moment that felt a bit heavy, he cleared his throat.

“See that?” Merlin asked quietly, pointing with his free hand up toward a glimmering constellation. “That’s Ursa Major. The Great Bear.”

“Mmm,” Arthur hummed in response, thoughts clearly still swirling.

“Wait,” he said suddenly, eyes meeting Merlin’s again, deep and serious. “Where are we? Are... is this...”

Arthur trailed off, but Merlin knew what he was trying to ask.

_Is this where it happened? Where I left you? Is this where I went away alone for so long?_

Merlin kept his eyes on Arthur’s.

“No,” he reassured him. “I don’t go there.”

“Never?”

“Never.” Another heavy beat of silence. “I only liked to go to our other places. Woods that held better memories.” Merlin smiled as he said it, but it looked like it pained him.

“Then... where is this?” Arthur asked, looking slowly about in different directions, trying to pull the right memory up from where he knew it must be, somewhere deep inside. It was like trying to recall a dream after waking. It had just been so long.

“Look — there,” Merlin pointed.

In the pale glow of the near full moon, Arthur took in the faint outlines of rolling hills, valleys, and craggy peaks beneath the distant trees.

“Balor?” Arthur asked, remembering.

Merlin nodded.

“But... the Forest of Balor... we were never here together, were we?”

Merlin just held Arthur’s gaze, a shy warmth in his eyes, seemingly filled with a hope Arthur would puzzle something out.

“Wait,” Arthur said, mind racing. “Wait... I... the cave. The light in the cave.”

Merlin smiled.

“I went there for the... the... Mortaeus flower. For you. You’d been poisoned. You’d saved me. I went there to find it, and then... there was a light. It guided me out of the cave. Kept me safe.” 

He paused.

“Merlin, was that you?” he asked, voice sounding strained.

Merlin nodded slowly.

“Yes.”

Arthur looked down at the ground for a moment, and then back to Merlin.

“I think I knew that,” he said, and pulled Merlin closer to him. Merlin turned into Arthur’s side, closing his eyes and burying his face into Arthur’s neck, wanting to feel the warmth of his skin and the beat of his heart, just for a moment. He breathed in the scent of Arthur’s hair and held it deeply in his lungs, never wanting to let it go. Never again.

Arthur pulled him silently against him into a full embrace and held on tightly.

After a time that felt both like forever and not nearly long enough, Merlin mumbled something against Arthur’s shoulder.

“What?” Arthur asked, pulling back.

“The solstice,” Merlin said, turning to face the fire again. “The Druids called it _Alban Arthan_.” He glanced toward the fire, and then back at Arthur. “It means _‘The Light of Arthur’_.”

Arthur stared back at Merlin, brow furrowed.

“It’s said that winter is the world’s time of rest, where everything sleeps. The earth and the trees and the cold ground... the animals... the soul of every living thing rests in stillness, patiently waiting for the dawn of spring.”

Merlin turned back toward Arthur, closing the gap between them again, so their foreheads nearly touched. Merlin could feel the warmth of Arthur’s breath against his own lips.

“Sometimes all of winter itself can feel like one long, long night,” Merlin breathed. “But the solstice is the longest, darkest night of all. The longest night of the whole year. It feels neverending.

But then, finally, the dawn breaks, and the sleeping sun returns anew. Reborn. And it stays, longer and longer with each day, making each night ever shorter from then on... reminding us that even in the darkness, even when we can’t see it, it’s never too far. And it will always come back.”

Arthur lifted his hands to the sides of Merlin’s face and tilted it back up to see his eyes again. Merlin went to lean forward, but Arthur was already there, crushing their lips together on a choked sob that seemed to come from both of them. It felt like desperation, like longing and grief, and making up for lost time; it felt deep and steady and slow, like a promise.

They had all the time in the world. 

**Author's Note:**

> Beginning quote from the 2017 Beauty and the Beast adaptation of the poem "A Crystal Forest" by R.E. Slater.


End file.
